Anyone know how to differentiate aftermarket and vintage bezels?

[RickRolexed]

Just curious I recently bought an older "genuine vintage pepsi bezel" and decided to also order an aftermarket bezel to compare and they basically look the same (aside from the fading of the genuine vintage), they seem to be constructed the same, same shape, colors are right. So is there any way to differentiate genuine from aftermarket? (pricing was about 10 times difference)

[Beelzy]

Beg pardon, are you asking us to do your homework? Lol

[RickRolexed]

Originally Posted by Beelzy

Beg pardon, are you asking us to do your homework? Lol

Nope already bought the vintage one, popped it on and bought an aftermarket one to compare but upon closer inspection at least for a 16710 the bezel's number fonts differ from the aftermarket especially the "8".

I was just curious if anyone had other ways to tell the difference as the "vintage" one cost me ~10x more than the aftermarket but if the font is the only way to tell then theres no real way to tell if the seller is listing "fake vintaged" bezels or not. Pics attached of the vintage bezel, apparently I didnt take a pic of the aftermarket one on my phone but can do later tonight for reference.

[Csu87]

i feel like they are very easy to tell the differences in fonts, colors, shapes, etc. Surprised you cant tell with having both.

[RickRolexed]

Originally Posted by Csu87

i feel like they are very easy to tell the differences in fonts, colors, shapes, etc. Surprised you cant tell with having both.

Didn’t take a photo yet but yea upon closer inspection you’re right the font for the aftermarket bezel for the 16710 is incorrectly the “fat font” but aside from that the construction of the piece is almost spot on with the genuine vintage piece I bought I suppose my worry would have been if they made one with the same font (doesn’t seem difficult) what’s to stop them from pricing it like the vintage one I bought but I suppose it’s overthinking but was picking my brain at first that I paid 10x as much for something that at a casual glance looked the same to me

[Sidmind]

"usually" the aftermarket bezels are flimsy if you try to bend them, I have a 1675 bezel genuine and aftermarket, the genuine when you squeeze it slightly feels solid and bounces back to original shape, where the aftermarket will bend and 'not' bounce back.

I also purchased a genuine 14060 sub bezel here on TRF, not sure if I got ripped off or not but it was very flimsy and the pearl fell out in less than a month. I still never figured out if it was real or fake or if just that particular bezel was flimsy in general. matter of fact recently I was comparing it to the known genuine and it broke while flexing it just a little bit (at the pearl) I chunked it in the parts bag. :)

[RickRolexed]

Originally Posted by Sidmind

"usually" the aftermarket bezels are flimsy if you try to bend them, I have a 1675 bezel genuine and aftermarket, the genuine when you squeeze it slightly feels solid and bounces back to original shape, where the aftermarket will bend and 'not' bounce back.

I also purchased a genuine 14060 sub bezel here on TRF, not sure if I got ripped off or not but it was very flimsy and the pearl fell out in less than a month. I still never figured out if it was real or fake or if just that particular bezel was flimsy in general. matter of fact recently I was comparing it to the known genuine and it broke while flexing it just a little bit (at the pearl) I chunked it in the parts bag. :)

lol I suppose in this case "ignorance is bliss" the genuine vintage bezel I bought looks the part and feels the part and since theres no real way to distinguish if I got the real deal or a extremely good fake (doubt its fake as the seller has good history etc but hey you never know) I'll put my mind at ease